The Rise Of Triple H | Wrestling Timelines
March 10, 2020 - New Title
According to a proxy statement released by WWE, Levesque earns a new job title: Executive Vice President, Global Talent Strategy & Development. Perhaps “earned” is not the correct word, since industry whispers suggest he has been demoted. Business expert Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics refuses to be drawn into that discourse, writing on Twitter that it is “an attractive reach toward a more whole and cynical narrative”.
The way in which the next year unfolds, however…
June 1, 2021 - Black And Gold
This episode of NXT is nothing you could describe as bad - but it’s dour and repetitive and one-dimensional. It’s the dying embers of Levesque’s love affair with the hardcore fan. He is going through the motions of making them happy, stubbornly refusing to acknowledge that they have changed and grown.
It typifies why NXT no longer works.
Held in the dimly lit and uninviting confines of the ‘Capitol Wrestling Center’, in the opener, Johnny Gargano goes over Kyle O’Reilly and Pete Dunne in 18 minutes and 29 seconds. It’s long for the sake of being long because, once upon a time, long matches were automatically considered great. It’s technically good, but charmless, featuring wrestlers who had peaked three years prior. Levesque is out of ideas. Good wrestling, in the wake of AEW’s rampant creativity, surreal signing spree, and white-hot atmosphere, is more an imposition than a novelty.
Jake Atlas goes over LA Knight in the second match. Another flashy indie guy is profiled. KUSHIDA, for whom it never worked out in WWE, defends his Cruiserweight title over Carmelo Hayes. This show could have easily taken place in 2018. In the main event, the team of MSK beat Joaquin Wilde and Raul Mendoza.
This joyless emulation of Pro Wrestling Guerrilla is derivative, soulless, unfashionable.
In terms of commercial popularity and the pulse of the fandom, NXT has reached 1995.